5/29/2012 Should We Hide Low-Dose Radiation Exposures From The Public?

Source: Forbes
Date: 5/29/2012 @ 1:59PM
by: Jeff McMahon

When fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster began appearing last Spring in U.S. air, rainwater, drinking water, and milk, many U.S. media outlets ignored the story. It was a difficult story to cover. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was releasing raw data erratically, sometimes late on Friday afternoons, and reporters either had to possess radiation expertise or take a crash course in picocuries, millisieverts, MCLs and DILs.  ... Read the rest here

Ruriko Sakuma, daughter of dairy farmer Shinji Sakuma, rubs a cow at their farm in the village of Katsurao in Fukushima prefecture, 25 kms west of the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant on May 3, 2011 after returning to feed their livestock from a shelter in Fukushima City. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

8/2/2011 Govt bans shipments of Tochigi beef cattle

Source: NHK World
Date: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 18:07 +0900 (JST)


Japan's government has ordered Tochigi Prefecture to suspend its shipments of beef cattle due to fears of radioactive contamination.

The government ordered the ban on Tuesday after beef from 4 head of cattle shipped from 2 municipalities in the prefecture was found to contain unsafe amounts of radioactive cesium.

Cesium contamination was also detected in rice straw used to feed beef cattle in the prefecture.

Tochigi is the fourth prefecture ordered to suspend beef cattle shipments, following Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate.

The government says it will allow resumption of shipments if radiation levels of all beef from farms whose shipments and feed were contaminated, as well as beef from other farms, fall below the government standard.

Tochigi says it will test all of its beef cattle, but the prefecture ships up to 55,000 head of cattle per year, and fewer than 30,000 can be processed locally.

The government is to ask the prefecture to draw up realistic plans for resuming shipments, such as limiting the number of cattle to be shipped.

8/1/2011 Govt bans beef cattle shipments from Iwate

Source: NHK World
Date: Monday, August 01, 2011 18:45 +0900 (JST)



Japan's government has ordered Iwate Prefecture to suspend shipments of all beef cattle, after radiation levels above government standards were detected in some beef from the region.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said on Monday that the ban was issued to the governor of Iwate after levels of radioactive cesium above the standard were found in beef from 2 municipalities.

Edano said the government will ensure that cattle farmers receive appropriate compensation, adding it will swiftly lift the ban for beef whose safety is confirmed.

Iwate is the third prefecture to face a beef shipment ban after Fukushima and Miyagi. Some cattle in Iwate were fed rice straw contaminated with radioactive cesium.

Authorities have confirmed that beef from 6 such cattle was contaminated with high levels of cesium.

The government will require the inspection of all beef from farmers who shipped meat contaminated with high levels of cesium or used tainted rice straw. Other farmers are asked to check their first beef to be shipped to market. The government says it will allow beef shipments when radiation levels are confirmed to be below the standard.

Iwate ships about 36,000 beef cattle a year. The prefecture says it will check all cattle for radiation exposure before shipment.

The government will also ask the prefecture to temporarily reduce the number of shipments to match its inspection capability.

7/28/2011 12 prefectures step up voluntary checks on beef

Source: NHK World
Date: Thursday, July 28, 2011 19:38 +0900 (JST)



Twelve prefectures in Japan have voluntarily stepped up radiation checks on beef before shipment in a bid to alleviate consumer concerns over meat safety.

About 3,000 beef cattle are suspected of having been shipped out after being fed rice straw contaminated with radioactive cesium from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

In Yamagata Prefecture, northwest of the plant, testing equipment is being used to measure radiation levels of meat from slaughtered cattle.

The beef is shipped only when its radiation levels are confirmed to be lower than the government safety limit.

In Shizuoka Prefecture, 350 kilometers southwest of the plant, local agricultural cooperatives are asking private laboratories to check all beef shipped from meat-processing plants run by the cooperatives.

Despite difficulties in tightening voluntary checks due to lack of testing equipment and financial burdens, more prefectures are expected to follow suit.

7/26/2011 Govt to buy back cesium-contaminated beef

Source: NHK World
Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 11:48 +0900 (JST)



The Japanese government says it will buy back beef containing unsafe levels of radioactive cesium that has already reached the distribution chain.

Agriculture minister Michihiko Kano announced the step on Tuesday, adding that the contaminated beef will be purchased through a private-sector body.

Kano said the measure is designed to allay consumer concerns over the feeding of cattle with rice straw containing cesium in excess of the government-set limit.

NHK has learned that nearly 2,900 head of cattle allegedly given such feed have been shipped to 46 of Japan's 47 prefectures, excluding Okinawa.

Excessive levels of cesium have been detected in beef in 6 of the prefectures, including Fukushima, where work continues to contain a nuclear plant accident.

Beef with radioactive cesium at levels within the safety limit will not be bought back. But, the government will subsidize the cost of storing it for the time being.

Agriculture minister Kano assured consumers that these measures will ensure that only safe beef reaches market.

The costs of purchasing and storing the beef will be eventually passed on to Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the disabled nuclear plant.

The government will also help livestock farmers affected by restrictions and price declines by offering them 50,000 yen, or about 640 dollars, for each head of cattle that was supposed to be shipped.

7/25/2011 Radiation tester in hot demand via beef scare

Source: The Japan Times
Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Kyodo

Retailers and consumers are inundating a private institute testing various items for radioactive materials to confirm the safety of beef products amid reports that cattle exposed to cesium were shipped nationwide, institute officials said.

Isotope Research Institute Inc., which is based in Yokohama, said it has received more than 150 inquiries including by phone and dozens of beef samples from all over the country since high levels of radioactive cesium were detected July 11 in straw fed to cattle at a farm in Fukushima Prefecture.
...
Read full article here

7/22/2011 Japan nuclear scare triggers run for radiation checks

Source: Reuters
Date: Fri Jul 22, 2011 7:30am EDT
by: Kiyoshi Takenaka

(Reuters) - Japanese private research labs with radiation testing gear have been flooded with orders for checks on food and soil samples after shipments of contaminated beef deepened public anxiety over radiation leaks from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
...
Read full article here

7/19/2011 Ex Japanese Nuclear Regulator Blames Radioactive Animal Feed on "Black Rain"

Source: Fairewinds Associates
Date: 7/19/2011
by: Arnie Gundersen


While many radioactive cattle have been discovered large distances from Fukushima, what is more important is where their feed is coming from. "It's not only about the radioactive cattle in Fukushima Prefecture; its also about the radioactive straw the cattle eat that was grown elsewhere". Straw found 45 miles from Fukushima is highly contaminated with radioactive cesium, which is an indication that radiation has contaminated large portions of Northern Japan. More than half a million disintegrations per second in a kilogram of straw are comparable to Chernobyl levels. This proves that the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission was correct when it told Americans to evacuate beyond 50 miles and that the Japanese should have done the same. An Ex-Secretariat of Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission blames this contamination on "Black Rain". Rather than minimize the information the Japanese people receive, Gundersen suggests minimizing their radiation exposure."

7/12/2011 Where's the radioactive beef part 2: cattle farm inspections

Date: 7/12/2011

The radiation tainted beef from a Minamisoma City farm made it out to at least 11 prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka, and some of the radioactive beef has been consumed.[1,2]  As per the Japan Times:

...
The farm shipped the six cows between May and June, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Their beef was distributed to Tokyo and Shizuoka, Osaka, Kanagawa and Ehime prefectures. It was also distributed to dealers in Hokkaido, Aichi, Tokushima and Kochi.


According to Aichi Prefecture, 5.9 kg of meat was shipped to a grill eatery in the prefecture from a Tokyo processing plant and 3.15 kg of that meat had been consumed.


Hokkaido said one cow's worth of meat was consumed in a restaurant in Chitose.


The meat was also sold at a supermarket chain in Tokushima and Kochi prefectures.[2]
...

NHK World: Fukushima Prefecture to inspect all cattle farms


Typically local governments are expected to do testing and ensure food safety. Previously, only the radiation level on the outside of cattle was checked, which means that, hypothetically, if the outside of the animal had been scrubbed clean it could have passed the inspection even if the meat itself exceeded the 300 becquerels/hour safety limit. The amount of beef able to be tested is about 1 percent of the total. However, the ministry of agriculture just recently launched its own testing of farms in Fukushima Prefecture, which will include all farms (the total number is about 260) which raise beef cattle and are in evacuation areas.[2]

NHK World: On-site inspection of cattle farmers begins


[1] Meat of 6 cows fed radioactive straw reaches 11 prefectures, Kyodo News via Japan Today
[2] Radioactive beef already sold, eaten, The Japan Times

7/11/2011 (Video) Where's the radioactive beef?

Date: 7/11/2011

The radioactive beef in the news lately is actually sourced from a single farm in Minamisoma City, which is near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, but outside the government mandated exclusion zone.


Here is how the radioactive beef propagated per NHK World:

...
Above normal levels of radioactive cesium have also been found in 11 other head of cattle from the same farm after they were brought to a slaughterhouse in Tokyo.


Officials of Shizuoka City, more than 300 kilometers from Minamisoma City, say a meat-packing company bought 27 kilograms of the beef on June 10th.


13 kilograms have already been sold to restaurants in the city. In an inspection, Shizuoka City detected 1,998 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram, 4 times higher than the government's standard.


The remainder, 14 kilograms of beef from Minamisoma was purchased by a meat dealer and sold by retailers or consumed at restaurants.


Tokyo, Kanagawa and 3 other prefectures also have found that meat from 6 head of cattle raised by the same producer was sold to some local dealers.[1]

The radioactive beef was detected as having more than triple the legal limit of radioactive cesium contamination.[2]  The farmer kept his cattle inside, but when he ran out of feed he fed them radioactive hay which had been sitting uncovered outside and was exposed to the fallout from Fukushima Daiichi.  The radioactive straw itself was found to have radioactive cesium at 75,000 becquerels per kilogram.  I have seen two conflicting figures as to what the safe limit is for radioactive cesium.  NHK World says it is 300 becquerels/kilogram.  Kyodo News says 75,000 becquerels/kg is 56 times the safe limit (e.g. 1339.29 beqeurels/kg if plugging the numbers in to a calculator). [2, 3]

What stuck out as a sore thumb from the video is that only the outside of the cattle is being measured for radiation, not the internal levels of the beef.

Residents from two areas of Minamisoma where radiation levels were found to be at least 20 millisieverts/year are also being screened presently for internal radiation levels. Although Minamisoma City is outside the Fukushima evacuation zone, it appears to be a radiation hot spot.


[1] Radioactive contaminated beef found in Shizuoka, NHK World
[2] Cesium found in hay fed to cattle,  NHK World
[3] Radioactive cesium found in straw fed to cattle in Fukushima, Kyodo News via Japan Today
[4] Minami-soma starts internal radiation checks, NHK World